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On Friday morning 26th January 2007, I was surprised to receive a medal from the Dutch
Embassy, London. It is a beautiful medal, with a ribbon of red, white and blue, in equal
widths.
With it was a certificate, which I have now framed, and hung in our living room.
There was also a letter, with it. The citation reads, "On behalf of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, the National Committee 'Thank you Canada & Allied Forces' I have the
honour to present you with the distinction 'Thank you Liberators' together with the
certificate. This medal is awarded to the liberators of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
as a token of the gratitude of the Dutch people to those servicemen and women who
actually took part in liberating the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands."
It is 62 years ago last Summer, when the British, Canadian and American armies broke
out from Normandy, and advanced through Belgium, into Holland. My Division along
with the Guards Armoured Division, advanced from Normandy, and reached the land between Nijmegan and Arnhem.
George Richardson is the president of the Calverton Branch of the Royal British Legion 2004
Addendum by George Richardson
George, as a young man, was involved in the D-Day landings at Normandy during the Second World War.
1940 George aged 21
(Click to view)
1942 George in Alexandria
(Click to view)
In June 2004 George made a return visit along with many other veterans of D-Day. He participated in the many commemoration services and parades organised in memory of those times in 1944, which was a major turning point in a war against an enemy who's intent was World domination and the enslavement of 'free thinking' people.
In 1944 on the 6th of June Corporal George Richardson, of the 6th Battalion Durham Light infantry made an opposed landing on the beach that was code-named 'Gold'.
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My Brigade stormed over the road bridge at Nijmegan, after a Battalion of Grenadier Guards had 'wiped out the opposition' up to the Lower Rhine River. The Airborne Divisions had landed a few days earlier, near Arnhem, but we had nearly 200 miles to advance with strong resistence from the Germans, and so we failed to capture the bridge over the Upper Rhine at Arnhem. It was a "Bridge too Far".
Why the Dutch Government have decided to present those of us with this medal, I don't know, but it is a lovely medal, white enamelled with a coloured cross of the four flags of the nations that took part in the Liberation of The Netherlands. ie: Canada, America, Britain and The Netherlands.
Click here for a tribute to Operation Market Garden
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